I'm aware that it's shocking behaviour to have supported more than one team. I know it contradicts everything that football fans hold dear, but logic interfered and logic has no part to play in football. Also, it fits in with my job, to be a bit of a turncoat - I'm easily seduced.

The first team I liked was Don Revie's Leeds side in the Seventies. I started supporting them because I'd met someone nice from Leeds. I liked them until things turned violent, then it became something I didn't want to be part of.

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By the early Eighties I started following Coventry City. It was at a time when I lived in the Midlands and my father and I would just get up on a Saturday morning and decide who to go and watch. More often than not it was Coventry and I ended up following them for about 10 years. I moved to London in the mid-Nineties and eventually I just stopped because I lost touch with the players. So I started watching whatever game I fancied.

After quite liking Crystal Palace for a while I ended up following Norwich. They were playing good football at the time so I used to watch them whenever they came to London. I went to Carrow Road a few times but I didn't buy their shirt or anything. Also, while I was in that area, I sometimes went to watch Ipswich and developed a soft spot for them.

In the late Nineties I lived in Nottingham and started to get work from clubs, including Forest, doing functions. After I did stuff for them I started wanting them to be successful. The same thing happened with Leicester City. I did an impression of Martin O'Neill so they adopted me and I adopted them.

At this time I had another reason for supporting different teams - I got to know some of the players through my work. I once met Chris Armstrong and he was really good at impressions - his Victor Meldrew was brilliant and so was his Steptoe and Son, so naturally I wanted Spurs to do well. Another player who was great at impressions was Dean Saunders, who used to do Brian Clough brilliantly.

Most recently I moved to Fulham so I thought I should start watching them. When two of my teams meet I go for the one that needs the points most. It's logic, it's kindness, it's feminine. I never go for the team with the best-looking players though, like some women do. With me it's all about deep-seated prejudices and emotional connections. Having said that, I've slipped a bit with Fulham recently. Now that they play at Loftus Road they're not really my local team any more so I've stopped watching them. You could say that I'm without a team at the moment, ready to be wooed.

Re: Questions for Jah Wobble and Alistair MacGowan please

At least he isn't a Leeds fan - a fate that befell McGowan by chance when he went on holiday as a four-year-old to Barmouth, north Wales and met an elderly woman called Mrs Drury.

"There's something quixotic in how we choose football teams we're doomed to stay with through the rest of our lives," McGowan told the Guardian. "For me it was this nice lady from Leeds I met on holiday."

McGowan returned home to his Worcestershire village a committed Leeds United fan. He even chose to read English at Leeds University partly because of its closeness to Elland Road

bet he's got a flag

Last edited by Blue Lou Boyle (Wed 28 Oct 2009 1:39 pm)

To be someone must be a wonderful thingA famous footballer or a rock singer

Re: Questions for Jah Wobble and Alistair MacGowan please

Blue Lou Boyle wrote:

At least he isn't a Leeds fan - a fate that befell McGowan by chance when he went on holiday as a four-year-old to Barmouth, north Wales and met an elderly woman called Mrs Drury.

"There's something quixotic in how we choose football teams we're doomed to stay with through the rest of our lives," McGowan told the Guardian. "For me it was this nice lady from Leeds I met on holiday."

McGowan returned home to his Worcestershire village a committed Leeds United fan. He even chose to read English at Leeds University partly because of its closeness to Elland Road